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Khalil Gibran
| birth_place = Bsharri, Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate, Ottoman Syria (modern day Lebanon) | death_date = | death_place = New York City, United States | occupation = Poet, Painter, Sculptor, Writer, Philosopher, Theologian, Visual Artist | nationality = Lebanese-American | genre = Poetry, Parable, Short Story | notable works = The Prophet Broken Wings | movement = Mahjar, New York Pen League | notableworks = The Prophet | signature = Kahlil Gibran signature.svg }} Khalil Gibran ( , ; born Gubran Khalil Gubran,Gibran 1998: 12 in academic contexts often spelled Jubrān Khalīl Jubrān, Jibrān Khalīl Jibrān, or Jibrān Xalīl Jibrān; Arabic , January 6, 1883 – April 10, 1931) also known as Kahlil Gibran,Gibran 1998: 29 was a Lebanese American artist, poet, and writer. Born in the town of Bsharri in modern-day Lebanon (then part of the Ottoman Mount Lebanon mutasarrifate), as a young man he emigrated with his family to the United States where he studied art and began his literary career. He is chiefly known in the English speaking world for his 1923 book The Prophet, an early example of inspirational fiction including a series of philosophical essays written in poetic English prose. The book sold well despite a cool critical reception, and became extremely popular in the 1960s counterculture.Acocella, Joan (January 7, 2008). "Prophet Motive". The New Yorker. Retrieved March 9, 2009. Gibran is the third best-selling poet of all time, behind Shakespeare and Lao-Tzu.Newyorker.com In Lebanon Gibran was born in the town of Bsharri (in modern day northern Lebanon) to the daughter of a Maronite priest.Jagadisan, S. "Called by Life", The Hindu, January 5, 2003, accessed July 11, 2007 His mother Kamila was thirty when he was born; his father Khalil was her third husband."Khalil Gibran (1883-1931)", biography at Cornell University library on-line site, retrieved February 4, 2008 As a result of his family's poverty, Gibran received no formal schooling during his youth. However, priests visited him regularly and taught him about the Bible, as well as the Arabic and Syriac languages. Gibran's father initially worked in an apothecary but, with gambling debts he was unable to pay, he went to work for a local Ottoman-appointed administrator. Around 1891, extensive complaints by angry subjects led to the administrator being removed and his staff being investigated. Gibran's father was imprisoned for alleged embezzlement, and his family's property was confiscated by the authorities. Kamila Gibran decided to follow her brother to the United States. Although Gibran's father was released in 1894, Kamila remained resolved and left for New York on June 25, 1895, taking Khalil, his younger sisters Mariana and Sultana, and his elder half-brother Peter(/Bhutros/Butrus). In the United States , c. 1898]] The Gibrans settled in Boston's South End, at the time the second largest Syrian/Lebanese-American communityKhalil Gibran (1883-1931) Cornell University Library in the United States. Due to a mistake at school, he was registered as Kahlil Gibran. His mother began working as a seamstress peddler, selling lace and linens that she carried from door to door. Gibran started school on September 30, 1895. School officials placed him in a special class for immigrants to learn English. Gibran also enrolled in an art school at a nearby settlement house. Through his teachers there, he was introduced to the avant-garde Boston artist, photographer, and publisher Fred Holland Day, who encouraged and supported Gibran in his creative endeavors. A publisher used some of Gibran's drawings for book covers in 1898. Gibran's mother, along with his elder brother Peter, wanted him to absorb more of his own heritage rather than just the Western aesthetic culture he was attracted to, so at the age of fifteen, Gibran returned to his homeland to study at a Maronite-run preparatory school and higher-education institute in Beirut, called Al-Hikma (La Sagesse). He started a student literary magazine with a classmate and was elected "college poet". He stayed there for several years before returning to Boston in 1902, coming through Ellis Island (a second time) on May 10. Two weeks before he got back, his sister Sultana died of tuberculosis at the age of 14. The next year, Peter died of the same disease and his mother died of cancer. His sister Marianna supported Gibran and herself by working at a dressmaker’s shop. Art and poetry Gibran held his first art exhibition of his drawings in 1904 in Boston, at Day's studio. During this exhibition, Gibran met Mary Elizabeth Haskell, a respected headmistress ten years his senior. The two formed an important friendship that lasted the rest of Gibran’s life. Though publicly discreet, their correspondence reveals an exalted intimacySalem Otto, Annie, The Love letters of Kahlil Gibran and Mary Haskell, Houston, 1964. Haskell influenced not only Gibran’s personal life, but also his career. She introduced him to Charlotte Teller, a journalist, and Emilie Michel (Micheline), a French teacher, who accepted to pose for him as a model and became close friendsNajjar, op.cit, p.59. In 1908, Gibran went to study art in Paris for two years. While there he met his art study partner and lifelong friend Youssef HowayekYusuf Huwayyik, Gibran in Paris, New York : Popular Library, 1976. While most of Gibran's early writings were in Arabic, most of his work published after 1918 was in English. His first book for the publishing company Alfred A. Knopf, in 1918, was The Madman, a slim volume of aphorisms and parables written in biblical cadence somewhere between poetry and prose. Gibran also took part in the New York Pen League, also known as the "immigrant poets" (al-mahjar), alongside important Lebanese-American authors such as Ameen Rihani, Elia Abu Madi and Mikhail Naimy, a close friend and distinguished master of Arabic literature, whose descendants Gibran declared to be his own children, and whose nephew, Samir, is a godson of Gibran's. Much of Gibran's writings deal with Christianity, especially on the topic of spiritual love. But his mysticism is a convergence of several different influences : Christianity, Islam, Sufism, Hinduism and theosophy. He wrote : "You are my brother and I love you. I love you when you prostrate yourself in your mosque, and kneel in your church and pray in your synagogue. You and I are sons of one faith - the Spirit." Alexandre Najjar, Kahlil Gibran, a biography, Saqi, 2008, p.150 His poetry is notable for its use of formal language, as well as insights on topics of life using spiritual terms. Gibran's best-known work is The Prophet, a book composed of twenty-six poetic essays. The book became especially popular during the 1960s with the American counterculture and New Age movements. Since it was first published in 1923, The Prophet has never been out of print. Having been translated into more than fortyAlwehar.com languages, it was one of the bestselling books of the twentieth century in the United States. One of his most notable lines of poetry in the English-speaking world is from "Sand and Foam" (1926), which reads: "Half of what I say is meaningless, but I say it so that the other half may reach you". This line was used by John Lennon and placed, though in a slightly altered form, into the song "Julia" from The Beatles' 1968 album The Beatles (a.k.a. "The White Album"). Political thought Gibran was by no means a politician. He used to say : "I am not a politician, nor do I wish to become one" and "Spare me the political events and power strugges, as the whole earth is my homeland and all men are my fellow countrymen"Alexandre Najjar, Kahlil Gibran, a biography, Saqi, 2008, p.110.. Gibran called for the adoption of Arabic as a national language of Syria, considered from a geographic point of view, not as a political entity Najjar, op.cit., p.27, note 2. When Gibran met `Abdu'l-Bahá in 1911–12, who traveled to the United States partly to promote peace, Gibran admired the teachings on peace but argued that "young nations like his own" be freed from Ottoman control. Gibran also wrote the famous "Pity The Nation" poem during these years which was posthumously published in The Garden of the Prophet."Pity The Nation..." by Khalil Gibran When the Ottomans were finally driven out of Syria during World War I, Gibran's exhilaration was manifested in a sketch called "Free Syria" which appeared on the front page of al-Sa'ih's special "victory" edition. Moreover, in a draft of a play, still kept among his papers, Gibran expressed great hope for national independence and progress. This play, according to Khalil Hawi, "defines Gibran's belief in Syrian nationalism with great clarity, distinguishing it from both Lebanese and Arab nationalism, and showing us that nationalism lived in his mind, even at this late stage, side by side with internationalism."Hawi, Khalil Gibran: His Background, Character and Works, 1972, p219 Death and legacy ]] , Massachusetts.]] , Lebanon.]] Gibran died in New York City on April 10, 1931: the cause was determined to be cirrhosis of the liver and tuberculosis. Before his death, Gibran expressed the wish that he be buried in Lebanon. This wish was fulfilled in 1932, when Mary Haskell and his sister Mariana purchased the Mar Sarkis Monastery in Lebanon, which has since become the Gibran Museum. The words written next to Gibran's grave are "a word I want to see written on my grave: I am alive like you, and I am standing beside you. Close your eyes and look around, you will see me in front of you ...." Gibran willed the contents of his studio to Mary Haskell. There she discovered her letters to him spanning twenty-three years. She initially agreed to burn them because of their intimacy, but recognizing their historical value she saved them. She gave them, along with his letters to her which she had also saved, to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library before she died in 1964. Excerpts of the over six hundred letters were published in "Beloved Prophet" in 1972. Mary Haskell Minis (she wed Jacob Florance Minis in 1923) donated her personal collection of nearly one hundred original works of art by Gibran to the Telfair Museum of Art in Savannah, Georgia in 1950. Haskell had been thinking of placing her collection at the Telfair as early as 1914. In a letter to Gibran, she wrote "I am thinking of other museums ... the unique little Telfair Gallery in Savannah, Ga., that Gari Melchers chooses pictures for. There when I was a visiting child, form burst upon my astonished little soul." Haskell's gift to the Telfair is the largest public collection of Gibran’s visual art in the country, consisting of five oils and numerous works on paper rendered in the artist’s lyrical style, which reflects the influence of symbolism. The future American royalties to his books were willed to his hometown of Bsharri, to be "used for good causes". Works In Arabic: *''Nubthah fi Fan Al-Musiqa'' (Music, 1905) *''Ara'is al-Muruj'' (Nymphs of the Valley, also translated as Spirit Brides and Brides of the Prairie, 1906) *''al-Arwah al-Mutamarrida'' (Spirits Rebellious, 1908) *''al-Ajniha al-Mutakassira'' (Broken Wings, 1912) *''Dam'a wa Ibtisama'' (A Tear and A Smile, 1914) *''al-Mawakib'' (The Processions, 1919) *''al-‘Awāsif'' (The Tempests, 1920) *''al-Bada'i' waal-Tara'if'' (The New and the Marvellous, 1923) In English, prior to his death: *''The Madman'' (1918) (downloadable free version) *''Twenty Drawings'' (1919) *''The Forerunner'' (1920) *''The Prophet, (1923) *''Sand and Foam (1926) *''Kingdom of the Imagination'' (1927) *''Jesus, The Son of Man'' (1928) *''The Earth Gods'' (1931) Posthumous, in English: *''The Wanderer'' (1932) *''The Garden of the Prophet'' (1933, Completed by Barbara Young) *''Lazarus and his Beloved'' (Play, 1933) Collections: *''Prose Poems'' (1934) *''Secrets of the Heart'' (1947) *''A Treasury of Kahlil Gibran'' (1951) *''A Self-Portrait'' (1959) *''Thoughts and Meditations'' (1960) *''A Second Treasury of Kahlil Gibran'' (1962) *''Spiritual Sayings'' (1962) *''Voice of the Master'' (1963) *''Mirrors of the Soul'' (1965) *''Between Night & Morn'' (1972) *''A Third Treasury of Kahlil Gibran'' (1975) *''The Storm'' (1994) *''The Beloved'' (1994) *''The Vision'' (1994) *''Eye of the Prophet'' (1995) *''The Treasured Writings of Kahlil Gibran'' (1995) Other: *''Beloved Prophet, The love letters of Khalil Gibran and Mary Haskell, and her private journal'' (1972, edited by Virginia Hilu) Memorials and honors of Gibran in Belo Horizonte.]] * Lebanese Ministry of Post and Telecommunications published a stamp in his honor in 1971. * Gibran Museum in Bsharri, Lebanon * Gibran Khalil Gibran Garden, Beirut, Lebanon * Gibran Khalil Gibran collectin, Soumaya Museum, Mexico. * Kahlil Gibran Street, Ville Saint-Laurent, Quebec, Canada inaugurated on 27 Sept. 2008 on occasion of the 125th anniversary of his birth. * Gibran Kahlil Gibran Skiing Piste, The Cedars Ski Resort, Lebanon * Kahlil Gibran Memorial Garden in Washington, D.C.,Gibran Memorial in Washington, DC dedicated in 1990Elmaz Abinader, Children of Al-Mahjar: Arab American Literature Spans a Century", U.S. Society & Values, February 2000 * Pavilion K. Gibran at École Pasteur in Montréal, Quebec, Canada * Gibran Memorial Plaque in Copley Square, Boston, Massachusetts * Khalil Gibran International Academy, a public high school in Brooklyn, NY, opened in September 2007 * Khalil Gibran Park (Parcul Khalil Gibran) in Bucharest, Romania * Gibran Kalil Gibran sculpture on a marble pedestal indoors at Arab Memorial building at Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil * Gibran Khalil Gibran Memorial, in front of Plaza de las Naciones. Buenos Aires. Mentions in popular culture Movies * A TV movie (4 episodes) called "Kahlil Gibran" (written by Alexandre Najjar and directed by Samir Habchi) was released in 2009. * A phrase from The Prophet is read aloud by Norma Shearer's character in The Women (1939 film) just before her daughter gives her the information that sends her to get her husband back. * The Prophet is seen in the Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line when June Carter hands it to J.R. to read in the motel. * Gibran is quoted in South Central, "You may tie my hands with chains and my feet with shackles, and put me in the dark prison, but you shall not enslave my thinking, for it is free, like the breeze in the spacious sky." * Gibran's poem, "For What is it to Die", is read during a funeral in Todd Field's 2001 film In the Bedroom. * Lines from Gibran's poem "On Love" from his book The Prophet are read to a sleeping Rachel in the movie The Poet (US title Hearts of War). * "Your children are not your children...", a phrase from The Prophet was used by Lualhati Bautista in her book Dekada '70 (Decade '70's), where Jules, a radical and the eldest son of Amanda Bartolome, told his mother that she has nothing to do with his ideology. The original novel though is written in Filipino, and the phrase was translated to Filipino. * In Sidney Lumet's 1973 film Serpico, Serpico's new girlfriend tells him the story of "The Wise King" (as found in Gibran's 1918 Madman). * In the 2010 film Faster, the warden asked the driver (Dwayne Johnson) to recite a poet that Kahlil Gibran makes (means The Prophet). Music * The Egyptian-Australian Oud Virtuoso, Joseph Tawadros wrote an entire album to Gibran's 'The Prophet' 2009 * The Lebanese Tenor Gabriel Abdel Nour dedicated a complete album to Gibran, Gabriel Abdel Nour sings Gibran Khalil Gibran, where all the songs were extracts from Gibran's writings. Gabriel is the only singer to dedicate a complete album to Gibran. He has celebrated as well the memorial of Gibran in different countries. * The song "Broken Wings", a US #1 hit for the band Mr. Mister was inspired by Gibran's book of the same name. * The Egyptian singer Tony Kaldas presented in 2008 Big Concerts Celebrating the Jubilee 125 Years of Gibran Khalil Gibran Birth in The Egyptian Opera House and in Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Egypt. Also, he released two new songs from Gibran Words.Tonykaldas.com * Jazz saxophonist Jackie McLean's "Khalil the Prophet" is on his album Destination...Out! (1963) (Blue Note BLP 4165) * Brisbane based improvisational Jazz Quintet, The Neighbourhood Groove Collective, name 2 songs "The Firefly & the Stars" and "Love Crowns" on their second release titled "Pieces" inspired by imagery from the Prophet. * Jason Mraz's song "God Rests In Reason" on the album Selections For Friends features words from the poem "The Prophet" * The lyrics to David Bowie's "The Width of a Circle", off his album The Man Who Sold the World (1970), relates a surrealist scene in which the narrator and his doppelgänger seek the help of a blackbird, who just "laughed insane and quipped 'Khalil Gibran'". * Michigan experimental screamo band Men As Trees quote Gibran in the liner notes to their 2008 album, Weltschmerz: "We wanderers, ever seeking the lonelier way, begin no day where we have ended another day; and no sunrise finds us where sunset has left us." * The R&B singer Chuck Jackson performed a song "The Prophet" in the 1960s with references to Gibran's work. *Tyrannosaurus Rex's second album, Prophets, Seers & Sages – The Angels of the Ages, released in October 1968, was dedicated to Gibran's memory. * Guitarist Derek Trucks and blues singer Susan Tedeschi named their son Charles Khalil Trucks for saxophonist Charlie Parker, guitarist Charlie Christian, and Gibran. *His book The Prophet is mentioned and quoted in the Mad Season song, "River of Deceit". "My pain is self-chosen. At least, so The Prophet says". * The Chicago-based metal band Minsk's second album The Ritual Fires of Abandonment's lyrics are inspired by Gibran, who also is credited as an author of the lyrics in the CD booklet. * Khalil Gibran is briefly mentioned in the Common Market song "Connect For". * Khalil Gibran is referenced in the Van Morrison song "Rave On John Donne" * The a cappella ensemble Sweet Honey In The Rock's song "On Children" is a musical version of Khalil Gibran's poem by the same name. The song was also covered by the a cappella group The Flirtations. * Electronic band Children of the Bong use samples quoting from 'The Prophet' in their track "The Veil". * Album on Atlantic Records (K50109 Stereo) (1974) *The Prophet" Khalil Gibran "A Musical Interpretation Featuring Richard Harris" ~ Produced And Composed By Arif Mardin * In The Beatles' song "Julia", John Lennon references Gibran's quote "Half of what I say is meaningless; but I say it so that the other half may reach you." * In the summer of 2010, a piece based upon the text of "Your children are not your children..." was commissioned and sung by the 2010 Minnesota All-State Mixed Choir. The piece was composed by Joshua Shank with text adapted from the poem. * The Florida-based indy band The Crüxshadows song Helen makes mention of Gibran's poetry * In 1968, NY Actor and then WNEW FM DJ Roscoe Lee Browne recorded "Music and Gibran", which consisted of English interpretations of Khalil Gibran's poetry, mixed over Middle Eastern background music performed by John Berberian(Oud),Souren Baronian (Clarinet/Baritone Sax),and Robert Marashlian on (Kanoun) among others. * Trans-Siberian Orchestra mentions him among a list of authors and philosophers in the song Father Son and Holy Ghost off of the Night Castle album. Other *In the Inaugural address of John F. Kennedy, the president John F Kennedy quotes Gibran's "The New Frontier" : "Are you a politician asking what your country can do for you or a zealous one asking what you can do for your country?" *Gibran is referenced briefly in the episode "Wingmen" of the show The Boondocks. When Huey Freeman (the central character, voiced by Regina King) is asked by his grandfather to say something "deep", he recites part of the poem "On Pain" from The Prophet. *In the hit TV show One Tree Hill, Lucas Scott (Chad Michael Murray) quotes Gibran. *In the popular video game Deus Ex, one of the three possible ending quotes is Gibran's quote: "Yesterday we obeyed kings and bent our necks before emperors. But today we kneel only to truth..." The western spelling of his name, Kahlil Gibran, was used to credit him. *Gibran is referenced in the popular American sitcom Friends. Richard, played by Tom Selleck, quotes from the friendship passage of The Prophet during a meal with Chandler and Monica. (Season 6) *San Diego Padres shortstop Khalil Greene was named after Gibran. *In the 2000 TV series The Invisible Man, main character Darien Fawkes quotes Gibran on the subject of parents and children in the season 2 episode "The Camp." *In episode 5 of season 6 of the TV series Bones, Angela Montenegro's husband attempts to win her back by quoting Gibran, albeit incorrectly: "Ever has it been that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation." In the show, the word "hour" is changed to "pain." *At the end of an episode of Criminal Minds, entitled "Perfect Storm", Gibran is quoted as saying "Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls. The most massive characters are seared with scars." *"Love has no other desire but to fulfil itself..." quoted in the novel Georgia by Leslie Pearse, page 571 *Jodi Picoult quoted Gibran in one of her novels on one of the pages which contain just a quote, to begin another section of the story. *In his novel The Shack, William P. Young quotes Gibran at the start of the chapter titled "The Great Sadness". The quote reads, "Sadness is a wall between two gardens."Young, William P. The Shack, Windblown Media, 2007, p. 43. *During the "Sound Bodies" episode (Third Year: 2003-2004 Season) of Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Gibran is mentioned by Robert Goren as one of the authors that Connie Hale has been reading. *Syrian mini-series titled "Gibran Khalil Gibran", broadcast on the Syrian state television in November 2008. *A fashion designer from Pakistan, Nilofer Shahid, made an haute couture collection inspired from the work of Khalil Gibran in 2006. *An excerpt from Gibran's poem "Joy and Sorrow" was quoted by author Karen Marie Moning in her bestselling novel Bloodfever. *In the computer game Civilization V, a quote upon finishing the Eiffel Tower is "We live only to discover beauty. All else is a form of waiting". *In the American sitcom The New Adventures of Old Christine, the title character has a flashback to her wedding where she and her husband are reading an excerpt from "Marriage" in "The Prophet" as their wedding vows, but for some reason they can't stop laughing, and decide not to read the poem after only about three lines. *In season 5, episode 22 of the TV show The Wonder Years, Norma Arnold reads "On Children" from "The Prophet" during the wedding ceremony for her daughter Karen. *In the computer game Call of Duty 2, a quote is displayed from Kahlil Gibran "Safeguarding the rights of others is the most noble and beautiful end of a human being"http://strategywiki.org/wiki/Call_of_Duty_2/Mission_Quotes#Kahlil_Gibran. Notes * : The pronunciation of the leading sound of the first name can be or ; the leading sound of the last name may be , or ; The open vowel in the first name can range from to ; the vowel following the initial consonant of the last name as may be pronounced as , or ; the last open vowel in the last name may be pronounced as or . Listen to audio here or here References * * Najjar, Alexandre, "Kahlil Gibran, a biography", Saqi, 2008. *''Khalil Gibran and Ameen Rihani: Prophets of Lebanese-American Literature''. Ed. by Naji B. Oueijan, et al. Louaize: Notre Dame Press, 1999. *Michael Corrigan mentions another writer's use of The Prophet in his grief memoir, A Year and a Day, published by the Idaho State University Press, 2008. *''Poeti arabi a New York. Il circolo di Gibran'', introduzione e traduzione di F. Medici, prefazione di A. Salem, Palomar, Bari 2009. ISBN 978-88-7600-340-0. *Daniel S. Larangé, Poétique de la fable chez Khalil Gibran (1883–1931): Les avatars d'un genre littéraire et musical: le maqam, Paris, L'Harmattan, 2005. * Scott Peck quotes passages about Children and Marriage from the Prophet in his best seller 'The Road Less Traveled'. External links *Online copies of texts by Gibran * , documentary, May 31, 2007 *Works by Khalil Gibran *Gibran paintings and love letters *History page links Gibran to W.B Yeats *The Prophet by Gibran Parts of the Prophet in English, French, Czech and Arabic *[http://butler-bowdon.com/the-prophet.html Short commentary on The Prophet] *Halil Cibran ile ilgili site *Google celebrated Khalil Gibran’s Birthday with special logotype ar:جبران خليل جبران az:Cübran Xəlil Cübran bs:Kahlil Gibran bg:Халил Джубран ca:Khalil Gibran cs:Chalíl Džibrán cy:Kahlil Gibran de:Khalil Gibran et:Khalil Gibran el:Τζιμπράν Χαλίλ Τζιμπράν es:Gibran Jalil Gibran eo:Ĝibran Ĥalil Ĝibran fa:جبران خلیل جبران fr:Gibran Khalil Gibran ko:칼릴 지브란 hy:Ժբրան Խալիլ Ժբրան hi:खलील जिब्रान hr:Halil Džubran id:Kahlil Gibran ia:Khalil Gibran is:Khalil Gibran it:Khalil Gibran he:ג'ובראן ח'ליל ג'ובראן jv:Khalil Gibran pam:Khalil Gibran ka:ჯუბრან ხალილ ჯუბრანი ku:Cibran Xelîl Cibran hu:Halíl Dzsibrán ml:ഖലീൽ ജിബ്രാൻ arz:جبران خليل جبران ms:Gibran Khalil Gibran nl:Khalil Gibran ja:ハリール・ジブラーン no:Khalil Gibran nn:Khalil Gibran ps:جبران خليل جبران pl:Dżubran Chalil Dżubran pt:Khalil Gibran ro:Khalil Gibran ru:Джебран Халиль Джебран scn:Khalil Gibran sk:Chalíl Džibrán sh:Halil Džubran fi:Kahlil Gibran sv:Khalil Gibran tl:Khalil Gibran ta:கலில் கிப்ரான் tt:Хәлил Җәбран tg:Чуброн Халил Чуброн tr:Halil Cibran ur:جبران خلیل جبران zh:纪伯伦·哈利勒·纪伯伦 Khalil Gibran (6 January 1883 – 10 April 1931), born Gibran Khalil Gibran, and also known as Kahlil Gibran, was an artist, poet and writer. He was born in Lebanon and spent much of his productive life in the United States. :See also: The Prophet Sourced * Vain are the beliefs and teachings that make man miserable, and false is the goodness that leads him into sorrow and despair, for it is man's purpose to be happy on this earth and lead the way to felicity and preach its gospel wherever he goes. He who does not see the kingdom of heaven in this life will never see it in the coming life. We came not into this life by exile, but we came as innocent creatures of God, to learn how to worship the holy and eternal spirit and seek the hidden secrets within ourselves from the beauty of life. This is the truth which I have learned from the teachings of the Nazarene. ** Khalil in Spirits Rebellious (1908) "Khalil The Heretic" Part 3 * Let us disperse from our aloofness and serve the weak who made us strong, and cleanse the country in which we live. Let us teach this miserable nation to smile and rejoice with heaven's bounty and glory of life and freedom. ** Khalil in Spirits Rebellious (1908) "Khalil The Heretic" Part 3 * I believe that you can say to Abraham Lincoln, the blessed, "Jesus of Nazareth touched your lips when you spoke, and guided your hand when you wrote; and I shall uphold all that you have said and all that you have written." I believe that you can say to Emerson and Whitman and James, "In my veins runs the blood of the poets and wise men of old, and it is my desire to come to you and receive, but I shall not come with empty hands." I believe that even as your fathers came to this land to produce riches, you were born here to produce riches by intelligence, by labor. I believe that it is in you to be good citizens. ** "I Believe In You (To The Americans Of Lebanese Origin)" in This Man from Lebanon: A Study of Kahlil Gibran (1945) by Barbara Young, p. 136 * The creator gives no heed to the critic unless he becomes a barren inventor. ** Spiritual Sayings of Kahlil Gibran (1962) as translated by Anthony R. Ferris * Progress lies not in enhancing what is, but in advancing toward what will be. ** A Handful of Sand on the Shore, as quoted in Alterquest: the Alternative Quest for Answers (2006) by Karen Fiala, p. 127 * The tears that you spill, the sorrowful, are sweeter than the laughter of snobs and the guffaws of scoffers. ** A Handful of Sand on the Shore * To understand the heart and mind of a person, look not at what he has already achieved, but what he aspires to. ** As quoted in Become a Conscious Creator: A Return to Self-Empowerment (2007) by Lisa Ford, p. 44 The Madman (1918) '' :[http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks05/0500601h.html ''The Madman: His Parables and Poems (1918) Full text online] * For the first time the sun kissed my own naked face and my soul was inflamed with love for the sun, and I wanted my masks no more. And as if in a trance I cried, "Blessed, blessed are the thieves who stole my masks." Thus I became a madman. And I have found both freedom and safety in my madness; the freedom of loneliness and the safety from being understood, for those who understand us enslave something in us. But let me not be too proud of my safety. Even a Thief in a jail is safe from another thief. ** Introduction * My friend, I am not what I seem. Seeming is but a garment I wear — a care-woven garment that protects me from thy questionings and thee from my negligence. The "I" in me, my friend, dwells in the house of silence, and therein it shall remain for ever more, unperceived, unapproachable. I would not have thee believe in what I say nor trust in what I do — for my words are naught but thy own thoughts in sound and my deeds thy own hopes in action. ** My Friend * I know faces, because I look through the fabric my own eye weaves, and behold the reality beneath. ** Faces * I go — as others already crucified have gone. And think not we are weary of crucifixion. For we must be crucified by larger and yet larger men, between greater earths and greater heavens. ** Crucified *Once there ruled in the distant city of Wirani a king who was both mighty and wise. And he was feared for his might and loved for his wisdom. Now, in the heart of that city was a well, whose water was cool and crystalline, from which all the inhabitants drank, even the king and his courtiers; for there was no other well. One night when all were asleep, a witch entered the city, and poured seven drops of strange liquid into the well, and said, “From this hour he who drinks this water shall become mad.” Next morning all the inhabitants, save the king and his lord chamberlain, drank from the well and became mad, even as the witch had foretold. And during that day the people in the narrow streets and in the market places did naught but whisper to one another, “The king is mad. Our king and his lord chamberlain have lost their reason. Surely we cannot be ruled by a mad king. We must dethrone him.” That evening the king ordered a golden goblet to be filled from the well. And when it was brought to him he drank deeply, and gave it to his lord chamberlain to drink. And there was great rejoicing in that distant city of Wirani, because its king and its lord chamberlain had regained their reason. The Forerunner (1920) :Full text online * You are your own forerunner, and the towers you have builded are but the foundation of your giant-self. And that self too shall be a foundation. And I too am my own forerunner, for the long shadow stretching before me at sunrise shall gather under my feet at the noon hour. Yet another sunrise shall lay another shadow before me, and that also shall be gathered at another noon. Always have we been our own forerunners, and always shall we be. And all that we have gathered and shall gather shall be but seeds for fields yet unploughed. We are the fields and the ploughmen, the gatherers and the gathered. * O love, whose lordly hand Has bridled my desires, And raised my hunger and my thirst To dignity and pride, Let not the strong in me and the constant Eat the bread or drink the wine That tempt my weaker self. Let me rather starve, And let my heart parch with thirst, And let me die and perish, Ere I stretch my hand To a cup you did not fill, Or a bowl you did not bless. ** "Love" The Prophet (1923) :These are just a few samples, for more quotes from this work see: The Prophet * Love gives naught but itself and takes naught but from itself. Love possesses not nor would it be possessed; For love is sufficient unto love. * Say not, "I have found the path of the soul." Say rather, "I have found the soul walking upon my path." For the soul walks upon all paths. The soul walks not upon a line, neither does it grow like a reed. The soul unfolds itself, like a lotus of countless petals. * Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding. Even as the stone of the fruit must break, that its heart may stand in the sun, so must you know pain. Sand and Foam (1926) * Half of what I say is meaningless, but I say it so that the other half may reach you. ** This line was later paraphrased by John Lennon, in his song "Julia", on The Beatles (1968): "Half of what I say is meaningless, but I say it just to reach you, Julia." * A sense of humour is a sense of proportion. * My loneliness was born when men praised my talkative faults and blamed my silent virtues. * When Life does not find a singer to sing her heart she produces a philosopher to speak her mind. * A truth is to be known always, to be uttered sometimes. * Strange that creatures without backbones have the hardest shells. * Friendship is always a sweet responsibility, never an opportunity. * There must be something strangely sacred about salt. It is in our tears and in the sea. Jesus, The Son of Man (1928) :Full text online * "My face and your faces shall not be masked; our hand shall hold neither sword nor sceptre, and our subjects shall love us in peace and shall not be in fear of us." Thus spoke Jesus, and unto all the kingdoms of the earth I was blinded, and unto all the cities of walls and towers; and it was in my heart to follow the Master to His kingdom. ''' ** James The Son Of Zebedee: On The Kingdoms Of The World * '''I was dead. I was a woman who had divorced her soul. I was living apart from this self which you now see. I belonged to all men, and to none. They called me harlot, and a woman possessed of seven devils. I was cursed, and I was envied. But when His dawn-eyes looked into my eyes all the stars of my night faded away, and I became Miriam, only Miriam, a woman lost to the earth she had known, and finding herself in new places. ** Mary Magdalen: On Meeting Jesus For The First Time * He stood up and looked at me even as the seasons might look down upon the field, and He smiled. And He said again: "All men love you for themselves. I love you for yourself." And then He walked away. But no other man ever walked the way He walked. Was it a breath born in my garden that moved to the east? Or was it a storm that would shake all things to their foundations? I knew not, but on that day the sunset of His eyes slew the dragon in me, and I became a woman, I became Miriam, Miriam of Mijdel. ** Mary Magdalen: On Meeting Jesus For The First Time * He knew the depth of beauty, He was for ever surprised by its peace and its majesty; and He stood before the earth as the first man had stood before the first day. We whose senses have been dulled, we gaze in full daylight and yet we do not see. We would cup our ears, but we do not hear; and stretch forth our hands, but we do not touch. And though all the incense of Arabia is burned, we go our way and do not smell. **A Philosopher: On Wonder And Beauty * In truth we gaze but do not see, and hearken but do not hear; we eat and drink but do not taste. And there lies the difference between Jesus of Nazareth and ourselves. His senses were all continually made new, and the world to Him was always a new world. **A Philosopher: On Wonder And Beauty * Many are the fools who say that Jesus stood in His own path and opposed Himself; that He knew not His own mind, and in the absence of that knowledge confounded Himself. Many indeed are the owls who know no song unlike their own hooting. You and I know the jugglers of words who would honor only a greater juggler, men who carry their heads in baskets to the market-place and sell them to the first bidder. We know the pygmies who abuse the sky-man. And we know what the weed would say of the oak tree and the cedar. I pity them that they cannot rise to the heights. ** Nicodemus The Poet, The Youngest Of The Elders In The Sanhedrim: On Fools And Jugglers * There are the men who say, "He preached tenderness and kindliness and filial love, yet He would not heed His mother and His brothers when they sought Him in the streets of Jerusalem." They do not know that His mother and brothers in their loving fear would have had Him return to the bench of the carpenter, whereas He was opening our eyes to the dawn of a new day. His mother and His brothers would have had Him live in the shadow of death, but He Himself was challenging death upon yonder hill that He might live in our sleepless memory. ** Nicodemus The Poet, The Youngest Of The Elders In The Sanhedrim: On Fools And Jugglers * Do you not remember me, Nicodemus, who believed in naught but the laws and decrees and was in continual subjection to observances? And behold me now, a man who walks with life and laughs with the sun from the first moment it smiles upon the mountain until it yields itself to bed behind the hills. ** Nicodemus The Poet, The Youngest Of The Elders In The Sanhedrim: On Fools And Jugglers * Am I less man because I believe in a greater man? The barriers of flesh and bone fell down when the Poet of Galilee spoke to me; and I was held by a spirit, and was lifted to the heights, and in midair my wings gathered the song of passion. And when I dismounted from the wind and in the Sanhedrim my pinions were shorn, even then my ribs, my featherless wings, kept and guarded the song. '''And all the poverties of the lowlands cannot rob me of my treasure. I have said enough. Let the deaf bury the humming of life in their dead ears. I am content with the sound of His lyre, which He held and struck while the hands of His body were nailed and bleeding. ** Nicodemus The Poet, The Youngest Of The Elders In The Sanhedrim: On Fools And Jugglers * He was gentle, like a man mindful of his own strength. In my dreams I beheld the kings of the earth standing in awe in His presence. ** Mary Magdalen: His Mouth Was Like the Heart of a Pomegranate * I admired Him as a man rather than as a leader. He preached something beyond my liking, perhaps beyond my reason. And I would have no man preach to me. '''I was taken by His voice and His gestures, not by the substance of His speech. He charmed me but never convinced me; for He was too vague, too distant and obscure to reach my mind. I have known other men like Him. They are never constant nor are they consistent. It is with eloquence not with principles that they hold your ear and your passing thought, but never the core of your heart. ** Manasseh: On the Speech and Gesture of Jesus * In every aspect of the day Jesus was aware of the Father. He beheld Him in the clouds and in the shadows of the clouds that pass over the earth. He saw the Father's face reflected in the quiet pools, and the faint print of His feet upon the sand; and He often closed His eyes to gaze into the Holy Eyes. The night spoke to Him with the voice of the Father, and in solitude He heard the angel of the Lord calling to Him. And when He stilled Himself to sleep He heard the whispering of the heavens in His dreams. He was often happy with us, and He would call us brothers. Behold, He who was the first Word called us brothers, though we were but syllables uttered yesterday. ** John The Beloved Disciple In His Old Age: On Jesus The Word * You ask why I call Him the first Word. Listen, and I will answer: In the beginning God moved in space, and out of His measureless stirring the earth was born and the seasons thereof. Then God moved again, and life streamed forth, and the longing of life sought the height and the depth and would have more of itself. Then God spoke thus, and His words were man, and man was a spirit begotten by God's Spirit. And when God spoke thus, the Christ was His first Word and that Word was perfect; and when Jesus of Nazareth came to the world the first Word was uttered unto us and the sound was made flesh and blood. ** John The Beloved Disciple In His Old Age: On Jesus The Word * We are all sons and daughters of the Most High, but the Anointed One was His first-born, who dwelt in the body of Jesus of Nazareth, and He walked among us and we beheld Him. All this I say that you may understand not only in the mind but rather in the spirit. The mind weighs and measures but it is the spirit that reaches the heart of life and embraces the secret; and the seed of the spirit is deathless. The wind may blow and then cease, and the sea shall swell and then weary, but the heart of life is a sphere quiet and serene, and the star that shines therein is fixed for evermore. ** John The Beloved Disciple In His Old Age: On Jesus The Word * I have pondered long, and I know now that only the pure of heart forgive the thirst that leads to dead waters. And only the sure of foot can give a hand to him who stumbles. ** Andrew: On Prostitutes * Jesus loved me and I knew not why. And I loved Him because He quickened my spirit to heights beyond my stature, and to depths beyond my sounding. Love is a sacred mystery. To those who love, it remains forever wordless; But to those who do not love, it may be but a heartless jest. ** John At Patmos: Jesus The Gracious * Love is a gracious host to his guests though to the unbidden his house is a mirage and a mockery. Now you would have me explain the miracles of Jesus. We are all the miraculous gesture of the moment; our Lord and Master was the centre of that moment. Yet it was not in His desire that His gestures be known. ** John At Patmos: Jesus The Gracious * I would tell you more of Him, but how shall I? When love becomes vast love becomes wordless. And when memory is overladen it seeks the silent deep. ** John At Patmos: Jesus The Gracious * I too died. But in the depth of my oblivion I heard Him speak and say, "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do." And His voice sought my drowned spirit and I was brought back to the shore. And I opened my eyes and I saw His white body hanging against the cloud, and His words that I had heard took the shape within me and became a new man. And I sorrowed no more. Who would sorrow for a sea that is unveiling its face, or for a mountain that laughs in the sun? Was it ever in the heart of man, when that heart was pierced, to say such words? What other judge of men has released His judges? And did ever love challenge hate with power more certain of itself? Was ever such a trumpet heard 'twixt heaven and earth? Was it known before that the murdered had compassion on his murderers? Or that the meteor stayed his footsteps for the mole? The seasons shall tire and the years grow old, ere they exhaust these words: "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do." ''' ** Philip: And When He Died All Mankind Died * '''In a dream I saw Jesus and My God Pan sitting together in the heart of the forest. They laughed at each other's speech, with the brook that ran near them, and the laughter of Jesus was the merrier. And they conversed long. ** Sarkis an old Greek Shepherd, called the madman: Jesus and Pan * "And now let us play our reeds together." And they played together. And their music smote heaven and earth, and a terror struck all living things. I heard the bellow of beasts and the hunger of the forest. And I heard the cry of lonely men, and the plaint of those who long for what they know not. I heard the sighing of the maiden for her lover, and the panting of the luckless hunter for his prey. And then there came peace into their music, and the heavens and the earth sang together. All this I saw in my dream, and all this I heard. ''' ** Sarkis an old Greek Shepherd, called the madman: Jesus and Pan * '''Once again I say that with death Jesus conquered death, and rose from the grave a spirit and a power. And He walked in our solitude and visited the gardens of our passion. He lies not there in that cleft rock behind the stone. We who love Him beheld Him with these our eyes which He made to see; and we touched Him with these our hands which He taught to reach forth. ** Mary Magdalen (Thirty years later): On the Resurrection of the Spirit * You hate Jesus because someone from the North Country said He was the Son of God. But you hate one another because each of you deems himself too great to be the brother of the next man. ** Mary Magdalen (Thirty years later): On the Resurrection of the Spirit * You know not that the earth was given in marriage to the sun, and that earth it is who sends us forth to the mountain and the desert. There is a gulf that yawns between those who love Him and those who hate Him, between those who believe and those who do not believe. But when the years have bridged that gulf you shall know that He who lived in us is deathless, that He was the Son of God even as we are the children of God; that He was born of a virgin even as we are born of the husbandless earth. ** Mary Magdalen (Thirty years later): On the Resurrection of the Spirit * Master, master singer, Master of words unspoken, Seven times was I born, and seven times have I died Since your last hasty visit and our brief welcome. And behold I live again, Remembering a day and a night among the hills, When your tide lifted us up. ** A Man From Lebanon: Nineteen Centuries Afterward * Men would bless you or curse you; The curse, a protest against failure, The blessing, a hymn of the hunter Who comes back from the hills With provision for his mate. ** A Man From Lebanon: Nineteen Centuries Afterward * Master, Master Poet, Master of words sung and spoken, They have builded temples to house your name, And upon every height they have raised your cross, A sign and a symbol to guide their wayward feet, But not unto your joy. Your joy is a hill beyond their vision, And it does not comfort them. They would honour the man unknown to them. And what consolation is there in a man like themselves, a man whose kindliness is like their own kindliness, A god whose love is like their own love, And whose mercy is in their own mercy? They honour not the man, the living man, The first man who opened His eyes and gazed at the sun With eyelids unquivering. Nay, they do not know Him, and they would not be like Him. ** A Man From Lebanon: Nineteen Centuries Afterward * You laughed for the marrow in their bones that was not yet ready for laughter; And you wept for their eyes that yet were dry. Your voice fathered their thoughts and their understanding. Your voice mothered their words and their breath. ** A Man From Lebanon: Nineteen Centuries Afterward * Here and there, betwixt the cradle and the coffin, I meet your silent brothers, The free men, unshackled, Sons of your mother earth and space. They are like the birds of the sky, And like the lilies of the field. They live your life and think your thoughts, And they echo your song. But they are empty-handed, And they are not crucified with the great crucifixion, And therein is their pain. The world crucifies them every day, But only in little ways. The sky is not shaken, And the earth travails not with her dead. ** A Man From Lebanon: Nineteen Centuries Afterward * Master, Master Poet, Master of our silent desires, The heart of the world quivers with the throbbing of your heart, But it burns not with your song. The world sits listening to your voice in tranquil delight, But it rises not from its seat To scale the ridges of your hills. Man would dream your dream but he would not wake to your dawn Which is his greater dream. He would see with your vision, But he would not drag his heavy feet to your throne. Yet many have been enthroned in your name And mitred with your power, And have turned your golden visit Into crowns for their head and sceptres for their hand. ** A Man From Lebanon: Nineteen Centuries Afterward * Master, Master of Light, Whose eye dwells in the seeking fingers of the blind, You are still despised and mocked, A man too weak and infirm to be God, A God too much man to call forth adoration. ** A Man From Lebanon: Nineteen Centuries Afterward * But Master, Sky-heart, Knight of our fairer dream, You do still tread this day; Nor bows nor spears shall stay your steps. You walk through all our arrows. ** A Man From Lebanon: Nineteen Centuries Afterward * Poet, Singer, Great Heart, May our God bless your name, And the womb that held you, and the breasts that gave you milk. And may God forgive us all. ** A Man From Lebanon: Nineteen Centuries Afterward The Vision: Reflections on the Way of the Soul (1994) :Edited by Robin H. Waterfield, translated by Juan R. I. Cole * I have existed from all eternity and, behold, I am here; and I shall exist till the end of time, for my being has no end. I soared into limitless space and took wing in the imaginal world, approaching the circle of exalted light; and here I am now, mired in matter. I listened to the teachings of Confucius, imbibed the wisdom of Brahma, and sat beside Buddha beneath the tree of insight. And now I am here, wrestling with ignorance and unbelief. I was on Sinai when Yahweh shed his effulgence on Moses; at the River Jordan I witnessed the miracles of the Nazarene; and in Medina I heard the words of the Messenger to the Arabs. And here I am now, a captive of confusion. ** The Anthem of Humanity * Life without Liberty is like a body without spirit. Liberty without thought is like a disturbed spirit ... Life, liberty, and thought — three persons in one substance, eternal, never-ending, and unceasing. ** The Vision * Love and what generates it. Rebellion and what creates it. Liberty and what nourishes it. Three manifestations of God. And God is the conscience of the rational world. ** The Vision * How amazing time is, and how amazing we are. Time has been transformed, and we have changed; it has advanced and set us in motion; it has unveiled its face, inspiring us with bewilderment and exhilaration. Yesterday we complained of time and feared it, but today we love and embrace it. Indeed, we have begun to perceive its purposes and characteristics, and to comprehend its secrets and enigmas. ** Children of Gods, Scions of Apes * Yesterday we obeyed kings and bent our necks before emperors. But today we kneel only to truth, follow only beauty, and obey only love. ** Children of Gods, Scions of Apes * All that you see was and is for your sake. The numerous books, uncanny markings, and beautiful thoughts are the ghosts of souls who preceded you. The speech they weave is a link between you and your human siblings. The consequences that cause sorrow and rapture are the seeds that the past has sown in the field of the soul, and by which the future shall profit. * My Soul gave me good counsel, teaching me to love what the people abhor and to show good will toward the one they hate. It showed me that Love is a property not of the lover but of the beloved. Before my Soul taught me, Love was for me a delicate thread stretched between two adjacent pegs, but now it has been transformed into a halo; its first is its last, and its last is its first. It encompasses every being, slowly expanding to embrace all that ever will be. * My yearning is my cup, my burning thirst is my drink, and my solitude is my intoxication; I do not and shall not quench my thirst. But in this burning that is never extinguished is a joy that never wanes. * My Soul gave me good counsel, teaching me to touch what has never taken corporeal form or crystallized. It made me understand that touching something is half the task of comprehending it, and that what we grasp therein is part of what we desire from it. * My Soul gave me good counsel, teaching me not to measure time by saying, "It was yesterday, and will be tomorrow." Before my Soul taught me, I imagined the past as an era not to be met with, and the future as an age that I would never witness. But now I know that in the brief moment of the present, all time exists, including everything that is in time — all that is eagerly anticipated, achieved, or realized. My Soul gave me good counsel, teaching me not to define a place by saying 'here' or 'there'. Before my Soul taught me, I thought that when I was in any place on the earth I was remote from every other spot. But now I have learned that the place where I subsist is all places, and the space I occupy is all intervals. * My Soul gave me good counsel, teaching me never to delight in praise or to be distressed by reproach. Before my Soul taught me, I doubted the value of my accomplishments until the passing days sent someone who would extol or disparage them. But now I know that trees blossom in the spring and give their fruits in the summer without any desire for accolades. And they scatter their leaves abroad in the fall and denude themselves in the winter without fear of reproof. * My Soul gave me good counsel, teaching me and demonstrating to me that I am not exalted over the panhandler nor less than the mighty. Before my Soul taught me, I thought people consisted of two types: the weak, whom I pitied and disregarded, and the powerful, whom I followed or against I rebelled. Now, I have discovered that I was formed as one individual from the same substance from which all human beings were created. I am made up of the same elements as they are, and my pattern is theirs. My struggles are theirs, and my path is theirs. * My Soul gave me good counsel, teaching me that the lamp which I carry does not belong to me, and the song that I sing was not generated from within me. Even if I walk with light, I am not the light; and if I am a taut-stringed lute, I am not the lute player. Your Thought and Mine .]] :Full text online * My thought is a tender leaf that sways in every direction and finds pleasure in its swaying. Your thought is an ancient dogma that cannot change you nor can you change it. My thought is new, and it tests me and I test it morn and eve. You have your thought and I have mine. * Your thought advocates fame and show. Mine counsels me and implores me to cast aside notoriety and treat it like a grain of sand cast upon the shore of eternity. Your thought instills in your heart arrogance and superiority. Mine plants within me love for peace and the desire for independence. Your thought begets dreams of palaces with furniture of sandalwood studded with jewels, and beds made of twisted silk threads. My thought speaks softly in my ears, "Be clean in body and spirit even if you have nowhere to lay your head." Your thought makes you aspire to titles and offices. Mine exhorts me to humble service. * Your thought describes laws, courts, judges, punishments. Mine explains that when man makes a law, he either violates it or obeys it. If there is a basic law, we are all one before it. He who disdains the mean is himself mean. He who vaunts his scorn of the sinful vaunts his disdain of all humanity. * Your thought advocates Judaism, Brahmanism, Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam. In my thought there is only one universal religion, whose varied paths are but the fingers of the loving hand of the Supreme Being. In your thought there are the rich, the poor, and the beggared. My thought holds that there are no riches but life; that we are all beggars, and no benefactor exists save life herself. * Your thought sees power in armies, cannons, battleships, submarines, aeroplanes, and poison gas. But mine asserts that power lies in reason, resolution, and truth. No matter how long the tyrant endures, he will be the loser at the end. Your thought differentiates between pragmatist and idealist, between the part and the whole, between the mystic and materialist. Mine realizes that life is one and its weights, measures and tables do not coincide with your weights, measures and tables. He whom you suppose an idealist may be a practical man. Misattributed * Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars. ** Edwin Hubbell Chapin, as quoted in Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895) by Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert Quotes about Gibran * For Khalil Gibran no single religious tradition revealed the whole truth about life so he wove together insights from Eastern Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, American Transcendentalism, and the folklore of his native Lebanon to create his own universal "Anthem of Humanity" ... he attacks narrow-mindedness, clerical hypocrisy and political injustice, and issues a declaration of faith in life itself. ** Editorial synopsis on the back jacket of the Penguin edition of The Vision: Reflections on the Way of the Soul (1994) as translated by Juan R. I. Cole * In truth, The Prophet is a work of such universal appeal that there is little to be gained from speculating on the identity of persons or places represented in it. For Gibran's purpose was a lofty one, and his belief in the 'unity of being', which led him to call for universal fellowship and the unification of the human race, is a message which retains its potency today as do the messages of all great poets. Inspired by his experiences in a country far from the land of his origins, he strove to resolve cultural and human conflict, in the process developing a unique genre of writing, and transcending the barriers of East and West as few have done before or since. He became not only Gibran of Lebanon, but Gibran of America, indeed Gibran the voice of global consciousness: a voice which increasingly demands to be heard in the continuing Age of Anxiety. ** Dr. Suheil Bashrui, editor of Kahlil Gibran: A Spiritual Treasury, as quoted in [http://www.sikhspectrum.com/052004/gibran.htm "Khalil Gibran (1883-1931) - A Voice of Consciousness" by Manbir Singh Chowdhary in SikhSpectrum.com Quarterly No.16 (May 2004)] External links * Updated Daily Quotes * Khalil Gibran Tribute Site bg:Джубран Халил Джубран bs:Kahlil Gibran cs:Chalíl Džibrán de:Khalil Gibran et:Kahlil Gibran el:Χαλίλ Γκιμπράν es:Gibran Jalil Gibran eo:Gibran Ĥalil GIBRAN fa:جبران خلیل جبران fr:Khalil Gibran hr:Halil Džubran id:Kahlil Gibran it:Khalil Gibran he:ג'ובראן ח'ליל ג'ובראן ka:ჯიბრან ხალილ ჯიბრანი ku:Xelîl Cibran lt:Kahlilas Gibranas li:Khalil Gibran hu:Halíl Dzsibrán pl:Khalil Gibran pt:Khalil Gibran ru:Халиль Джебран Джебран sk:Chalíl Džibrán sl:Khalil Gibran fi:Khalil Gibran tr:Halil Cibran zh:紀伯倫 Category:1883 births Category:1931 deaths Category:Arab Christians Category:Arab writers Category:Deaths from cirrhosis Category:Deaths from tuberculosis Category:American people of Lebanese descent Category:American writers of Arab descent Category:Arabs of the Ottoman Empire Category:American poets Category:Lebanese poets Category:Lebanese writers Category:Lebanese artists Category:Cultural history of Boston, Massachusetts Category:Lebanese Maronites Category:Syrian nationalists Category:American Maronites Category:Mystics Category:People from Bsharri Category:Infectious disease deaths in New York Category:Lebanese novelists Category:Arabic-language poets Category:Lebanese sculptors Category:American poets of Arab descent Category:Arabic poets Category:Mystics Category:1930s deaths Category:Lebanese